Research interests
My research seeks explanations for the remarkable diversity of floral design and display that characterizes angiosperms. I expect that much of this diversity represents differences in reproductive function, so that my specific research projects address the roles of design and display in particular pollination and mating environments. Clearly this objective is too large to be applied individually to all 250,000 angiosperm species, so I adopt a conceptual approach, often supplemented by formal mathematical theory, which is guided by my empirical experience with pollinator behaviour and reproduction by diverse species. At the moment, some of my projects address: the function of the 3-dimensional arrangement of flowers on flowering stalks and constraints on its evolution; changes in the reproductive characteristics of individual plants during the flowering season as means of promoting female and male success; the allocation of resources, especially carbon, to reproduction and its allocation to competing reproductive functions; and whether characteristic features of being a plant affect selection on traits that influence mating success.